Just had a go at using an old trauma dressing before deciding to order some new ones. Opened and applied it with just my week hand and it was very easy to use.
Home first aid kit
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
What3Words - The young lad who started it was on R4 today, and made the point that out in the wilds/countryside it's a lifesaver for the emergency services, better than a map reference. Especially for the horsey set who fall off in the middle of big fields.
I've been a bit anti until now - more apps on the dreaded mobile which I rather have off, trackers etc, but that has made me change my mind.
Friday, I suffered a nasty fall up some stone steps and landed on gravel after crashing into a stone wall.
Winded and bruised, sprained wrist. Luckily had my fak with me, bunged a bandage on the wrist, with a comfrey poultice, (luckily, there was some nearby) and smothered myself in arnica creme, straight away.
Only slight bruising came through, hardly noticeable, and the wrist is OK now, just twinging now and then.
Arnica creme is de rigour in both my home and out in the world kit. I'm making comfrey oil to add to my kit. It's realy good!
Never had a sprained wrist and bruising heal so quick!
Winded and bruised, sprained wrist. Luckily had my fak with me, bunged a bandage on the wrist, with a comfrey poultice, (luckily, there was some nearby) and smothered myself in arnica creme, straight away.
Only slight bruising came through, hardly noticeable, and the wrist is OK now, just twinging now and then.
Arnica creme is de rigour in both my home and out in the world kit. I'm making comfrey oil to add to my kit. It's realy good!
Never had a sprained wrist and bruising heal so quick!
Thank you , I'm fine and carrying on as normal. The bandage came off the wrist yesterday, and as I said, apart from the odd twinge, it's fine. The bruises you can barely see, and only knew they were there if I pressed the areas where they were. (Shoulder, arm and thigh.)
I'm realy impressed with the cream and amazed with the poultice. Nature's medicine is wonderfull.
Went to the garden centre Saturday, and bought some more herbs for my medicine garden, and took a root of comfrey home with me from the incident site, which is now happily planted in a large pot, along with some leaves to make comfrey oil, which is now percolating away in a kilner jar.
Can't find an arnica plant, though I did get some ecchinacia.
I've been learning herbal medicine as one of my new year resolutions, it's come in very handy already!
Regarding First Aid Kits - from military survival training and infortainment videos on YouTube from Eastern Europe, Ukrainian side seem to use successfully expired American JFAK, while Russian side is well impressed by Chinese Rhino Rescue kit. I would think they cover nearly all trauma eventualities
JFAK seem to work well even after 5 years from expiry, homeostatic elements may layer up, but bleeding is mainly stopped by pressure
I bought 2-3 kits now - JFAK, Rhino Rescue and partial British- and put them into my car and scooter so that I have them in any vehicle I go out for hunting
JFAK seem to work well even after 5 years from expiry, homeostatic elements may layer up, but bleeding is mainly stopped by pressure
I bought 2-3 kits now - JFAK, Rhino Rescue and partial British- and put them into my car and scooter so that I have them in any vehicle I go out for hunting
Never heard of Rhino before, interesting but looks pricey.
Managed to hit my own shin with a full blooded lump hammer swing yesterday, while breaking up firewood timber/pallet. Kmocked ny footing away so maybe why it did'nt break my leg, I don't know, bit of a bruise today that's all.
Managed to hit my own shin with a full blooded lump hammer swing yesterday, while breaking up firewood timber/pallet. Kmocked ny footing away so maybe why it did'nt break my leg, I don't know, bit of a bruise today that's all.
Yeah thanx. Only because I was holding the pallet I was hitting! - Nearly face-planted into it, pretty funny to watch but making me think about potential camping IFAC needs.
I was thinking - how do we see a Home First aid kit different to any other First Aid Kit ?
Seems we will have different First Aid Kits in mind
First Aid Kit for your Hiking bergen - maybe more anti blister , bite and some on the move meds.
Cutty-cutty sharpy -Ouch first air kit - more packing for big cuts from big blades. More so if Mr chainsaw is not always your friend.
Car First Aid kit - bit of everything
Home First Aid Kit ??? Do people include more what in a Home first aid kit ? Meds? Part used bottles of Night nurse and some a half squeezed tube of anti cold sore cream?
So what do people pop in their Home Kit? What makes the difference that its a home kit?
Seems we will have different First Aid Kits in mind
First Aid Kit for your Hiking bergen - maybe more anti blister , bite and some on the move meds.
Cutty-cutty sharpy -Ouch first air kit - more packing for big cuts from big blades. More so if Mr chainsaw is not always your friend.
Car First Aid kit - bit of everything
Home First Aid Kit ??? Do people include more what in a Home first aid kit ? Meds? Part used bottles of Night nurse and some a half squeezed tube of anti cold sore cream?
So what do people pop in their Home Kit? What makes the difference that its a home kit?
I have:
On my person an Israeli bandage, CAT and then a basic cuts kit
An IFAK which I carry in the top outer pocket my daysack. Has all of the above plus some aspirin, antihistamine, a few cleaning bits, blister pads, haemostatic gauze, gloves, depending if anyone else is with me I might have some NPAs (if more than one, a 6mm and a 7mm).
In my daysack for anything overnight or more I have a larger kit with additional dressings, 2x CATs, mylar blanket, SAM splint, over the counter medication (including more of the aforementioned), and enough dressings/gauze to manage more serious bleeds for a while until help arrives.
Home first aid kit has basically all of that plus antiseptic creams, larger bandages for slings, eyewash. I have a lot of spares of each for all of the above, so I don’t have a home ‘kit’ as such, just all the stuff I own all in one place.
All my ‘work’ out of date first aid stuff is at home in a box and I keep that for personal use.
I have professional full first aid kits that at a minimum can deal with most outdoor first aid incidents. I add to them depending on the location and type of activity. I do have separate MTB one with more sterile fluids and gauze to wash out abrasions and that one does have a tourniquet and an eye wash bath.
I have separate first aid kits for personal walking/general outdoor and mountain biking.
One thing I would suggest of you are out solo (or with a group) is to include a small mirror. It can be great to clean up and dress face injuries and also handy to inspect hard to see areas that might have a tick!
At home I have access to a phone and can ring an ambulance, could drive to hospital, seek shelter at a neighbours I had no power etc. So many of the outdoor concerns, such as shelter, phone signal etc are not in play. There is a very good urgent treatment centre down the road that I would go to if I had a concern that feel out of my scope and did not warrant a trip to A&E.
Home is where all the potions and lotions are kept. For example aftersun, insect bite relief, antihistamines, strong pain relief, have some antibiotics, spare inhalers plus the care of my tender and loving wife!
My home first aid kit has a decent St John's Ambulance first aid manual tucked away in the lid, good thing to have in my mind. One of the other things that seems more specific to it being at home is the burns kit, tends to be more of a domestic injury.
Things like scissors, a selection of scalpels, large tweezers/forceps and the thermometer live in the home kit too. It's got a few sam splints, suture, various creams (anaesthetic, anti-fungal, antiseptic etc).
Besides that, it's got all the typical stuff in it (wound cleansing, wound dressings, eye kit, hot/cold packs etc).
My van/work/out and about kit tends to be more focused around cleaning out wounds and patching them up.
Growing up, our first aid kit was basically a tub of Sudocrem and a bottle of TCP.
When I posted my original question I just wanted to differentiate between a kit you might take out on a walk or to work and a larger kit you don't need to worry about the size. In the end I picked up a standard refill kit, and eye wash kit, some new burn dressings and a couple of trauma dressings. All kept in a drawer next to the medicines (pain killers, antihistamines etc).
At some point we'll need to think what else to add as we know it's very likely an ambulance could take 12hrs or more to turn up round these parts and there's not much else in the area.
At some point we'll need to think what else to add as we know it's very likely an ambulance could take 12hrs or more to turn up round these parts and there's not much else in the area.
I think your point regarding rural location vs response time is a very good one.
I'm currently rethinking my Home medical FAK to be a bit more of a priority ( compared to any hiking or car type kits ) - so just thinking along the lines of 'How much is too much' - but again it should align with ones training .
Need to get myself on a quality refresher course.
Probably the most important bit of information on here. If you don't know how to use it properly then don't have it. If you need to know how to use it do a course.
Many of the finer points of first aid are lost when people read them in a book, you don't get that on a walk through - talk through course. It's almost military in the respect of the way it's taught (explanantion, demonstaration, imitation and practice/test).
Many books are very good and some people will have a learning style that reflects that, others on the other hand will have a more "hands on" style of learning.
First aid kits do change in relation to what they are used for, but there will always be an overlap of things that are used in all kits.
As TeeDee mentioned it's always worth bearing in mind the duration between when the injury happened and when further aid can be accessed (if required) even in the home. Any course done needs to reflect this.
TraumaFix self-adhesive bandages have a good reputation on other forums. They come in a few different sizes and are available in both military and civilian versions which are very similar as far as I can tell. Being a self-adhesive bandage means that it is easy to use in a panic and can even be applied to yourself one handed if necessary.
Lucky I have never needed to use one for real but I do have a few in my first aid kits dotted around in various different places (at home, in cars and at a horses stable). They are quite pricey but I managed buy a large batch of several of them for a good price a while ago. One of the packets had already been opened so I've had a look inside at one and the quality does seem to be good as far as my untrained eyes can tell.
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